New Zealand's gorgeous Coastal Pacific rail service, which runs between Picton and Christchurch on the South Island's east coast, announced it will return on December 1.
KiwiRail's popular five-hour, 335-km (208-mile) trip was halted in November 2016 after a major earthquake devastated the Christchurch area.
For much of the journey, the route hugs the coast, with the sea on one side and the ...

The Chicago River has had about as strange a career as any waterway in North America, starting with its namesake city's decision in the late 19th century (enacted in the early years of the 20th) to reverse the river's course in order to keep sewage out of Lake Michigan. Of course, that just sent the sewage—including the foul runoff from the same meatpacking factories that gave Upton Sinclair the...

And you thought Orlando was sweltering. Temperatures in Abu Dhabi regularly top 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius) during much of the year, making an outdoor theme park in the United Arab Emirates capital a sticky proposition, especially in summer. But you don't have to worry about succumbing to heat exhaustion at the new Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi—it's entirely indoors. The air-condition...

Think of the word museum and you’ll probably think of old paintings. You might expect the sound of footsteps crossing a quiet gallery or guards standing watch over masterpieces.
The National Comedy Center, which just opened in Jamestown, New York, shatters that lofty picture in favor of something more fun. If this museum is doing its job, attendees will be laughing their way through more ...

There's nothing like seeing cultural artifacts from your childhood in a historical exhibit to make you feel like an ancient relic. Those of us with memories of the 1980s can have that disconcerting experience at Seattle's Living Computers: Museum + Labs, where a temporary exhibit called "Total 80s Rewind" transports visitors to the world of a teenager in the Reagan years. Gather 'round, kiddies...

Polar expedition cruises—the industry term for active voyages in remote, icy waters—are a big trend at sea right now. They appeal to contemporary travelers' taste for unique adventures, while climate change has made routes in the Arctic and Antarctica passable for longer stretches of the year (a development it's impossible not to feel ambivalent about to say the least). Even the famously faraway N...

You may remember—or perhaps you studied it in your Great Achievements of World Cinema class—that the first Mamma Mia! movie was set in Greece. Based on the hit Broadway musical, the film was famously, dazzlingly Greek, so Greek it made Zorba look shy. Meryl Streep's American character has decamped there to run a preposterously picturesque cliffside inn, where old flames hover and neighborhood teens...

The world's first semi-submerged sculpture park is now open for snorkel-equipped art lovers off the coast of the Maldives in the southern Indian Ocean. Dubbed Coralarium, the over-/underwater project was dreamed up by British artist Jason deCaires Taylor, who, according to Smithsonian magazine, has worked on similar installations off coasts in Grenada, Mexico, and the Canary Islands. Those were ...

Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary was not a spot often visited for just one day. This former maximum-security prison held dangerous criminals with sentences exceeding 200 years. The penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee, about 40 miles west of Knoxville, has been closed since 2009, but last Saturday it opened to the public as a tourist attraction, giving outsiders access to this rustic lockup like ...

American Airlines passengers who buy basic economy tickets will each be allowed to bring a carry-on bag aboard flights, starting September 5. The news was announced by American executives this week during the carrier's second-quarter earnings call with reporters. Up to now, the luggage allowance for basic economy—American's cheapest, no-frills fare, which was introduced last year—has been just o...